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Global tourism recovery remains ‘conditional on vaccination’

The uneven distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and rates of vaccination around the world remains the biggest obstacle to the global recovery of travel and tourism.

That is according to Jamaica tourism minister Edmund Bartlett, who told the inaugural Global Tourism Resilience Forum in Dubai: “Even when several strains of Covid-19 have come and gone, a sizeable percentage of the world has only 20% of its population vaccinated.”

Bartlett said: “The big problem is how we distribute vaccines and help the world recover together.” At one stage of the vaccine roll-out, he noted: “10% of the world had 80% of the vaccines”.

He told the forum: “Countries have not responded together.

“The rate of recovery to normalcy is conditional on the level of vaccination and the extent to which protocols are applied, and these affect the number of deaths and hospitalisations. Resilience building should not be selfish.”

Najib Balala, cabinet secretary and minister of tourism and wildlife in Kenya, agreed, saying: “Governments have to support vaccination for all.”

He insisted “Covid is not yet at an end, it continues” and urged action “to ensure tourism businesses survive alongside the virus”, noting: “This virus revealed gaps in the preparedness of the industry and governments.”

Balala also warned: “The future of tourism is closely linked to the climate crisis.

“It is likely tourism will face the impact sooner rather than later. Resilience must be aligned with clean energy and reduction of carbon emissions.”

Bartlett is co-chair of the Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council and founder of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) in Jamaica.

Professor Lloyd Waller, executive director of the centre, announced the launch of a Global Tourism Resilience Day on February 17 next year.

Bartlett told the forum: “We want to focus attention on the many small nations that are weakly resourced but vulnerable.”

Waller confirmed that the GTRCMC would have six satellite centres around the world by the end of this month and 12 by the end of the year, “representing a global think tank”.

Taleb Rifai, co-chair of the GTRCMC and of the resilience council and former secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organisation, said: “The GTRCMC has grown in just a few years from an idea to a network.

“Things are happening on the ground and not just influencing through advocacy.”

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